Month: February 2021

Zecharian Chafee was born in Providence to a political family descended from Roger Williams. Chafee attended Brown, where he was a fellow. After graduating fron Brown in 1907, he went on to study law at Harvard University. While attending Harvard, he became influenced by the theories of sociological Jurisprudence presented by Roscoe Pound and others

Thomas Gardiner Corcoran, formerly of Pawtucket, was a brilliant attorney nicknamed “Tommy the Cork”, and a close companion to Oliver Wendell Holmes. He born in Pawtucket and educated at Brown (where he was class valedictorian). He later became one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s most trusted advisors, and a high level official for the powerful

Edward V. Healey, Jr., 1923-2011, of Cranston was a Senior Associate Justice of the Rhode Island Family Court and an internationally recognized authority on juvenile justice and delinquency prevention. He served on several advisory commissions for Presidents of the United States, and is a prominent jurist, professor, and consultant to various nations and states.

Mayor Walter Reynolds, 1901-1987, known as “Barney”, served seven consecutive terms as Mayor of Providence, totaling fourteen years of service.He was the City’s Chief Executive during times of great accomplishment and growth. A public servant for more than thirty-five years, beginning in 1935, he received numerous national, regional, and local awards for excellence in various

Henry J. Tasca, 1912-1979, was U.S. Ambassador to Greece and Morocco, and several other European countries as a career diplomat and key foreign service official. A native of Providence who spent most of his childhood in Philadelphia, he studied at both Temple and Pennsylvania Universities. A specialist in economic and financial affairs, he retired and

Lionel Benjamin was second in command of the RI State Police as Major and Executive Officer. Enlisted in 1958, he moved to the detective division in 1965 and four years later, transferred to intelligence, where he was a member of N.E. State Police Crime Intelligence System as a senior officer. Promoted from Corporal to Captain

Alfred Hahn Joslin, 1914-1977, was Associate Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and past Chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Bar Association for Rhode Island. He became Trustee, Vice Chancellor, and fellow of the Brown Corporation. He wrote more than 600 opinions and served as the chair of Capital Center Commission (1980-1991).

G. William Miller, 1925-2006, served as United States Secretary of the Treasury and former Chief Executive Officer, Chairman, and President of Textron. President Carter nominated him as Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Board prior to his appointment as Secretary of the Treasury. Everett Raymond Kinstler, Sec. G. William Miller, 1981. Oil on canvas,

William Healy Sullivan was an American foreign service career officer who held ambassadorships to Laos, the Philippines, and Iran as well as serving in numerous important advisory posts dealing with major foreign policy issues throughout his lengthy career. Born in Cranston, Rhode Island to Joseph and Sabina (nee Foley) Sullivan on October 12, 1922, Sullivan

Governor, Senator, U.S. Solicitor General, and Attorney General, J. Howard McGrath had compiled an impressive resume by the time he reached his fiftieth year. Born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island on November 28, 1903, he was the second son of Irish mill worker James J. and his wife Ida (May) McGrath. Leaving the Blackstone Valley area

Benjamin F. Thurston, 1829-1890, was the leading U.S. Attorney of his day and the top authority on patent law.

John Orlando Pastore was born in the Federal Hill section of Providence on March 17, 1907 to Michele and Erminia (Asprinio) Pastore. He married Elena Caito in 1941, and the couple had three children, Dr. John O., Jr., Frances Elizabeth, and Louise Marie. John attended Providence public schools and received his Bachelor of Law degree

U.S. Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich became the acknowledged leader of the conservative, business-oriented wing of the national Republican Party during the administrations of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft. Aldrich was born in rural Foster on November 6, 1841, the son of Anan E. Aldrich, a mill hand and farmer, and Abby (Burgess)

Long-time senator, Theodore Francis Green bequeathed a lasting legacy of reform and economic growth to the state. Born in 1867 in Providence to an old Brahmin family, which counted among its lineage Rhode Island’s first governor under the Royal Charter of 1663, Benedict Arnold, and Revolutionary War general Nathanial Greene, Theodore Francis Green attended schools

A native of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Raymond Farrell was born on February 6, 1903 to James and Jennie (Moran) Farrell. After he graduated from Pawtucket High School he entered Georgetown University and later its La School in Washington, D.C., where he graduated in 1931. He subsequently served as a federal investigator in a variety of

Dennis J. Roberts, 1903-1994, served as Rhode Island’s Governor for four terms from 1951 to 1959. This following a long stint as Mayor of the City of Providence for ten years, from 1941 to 1951. He also served an additional four years as a Rhode Island State Senator.

On a crisp January morning in 1915, a thirty-year-old freshman representative from the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Providence strode into the Rhode Island state capitol. This novice legislator was James Henry Kiernan. For nearly fifty-one years thereafter Jim Kiernan would serve with distinction in the Rhode Island House, and for thirty-five years, until the opening

Dr. Jay Goodman was a brilliant scholar, an inspiring teacher, a meticulous attorney, and the intellectual power behind the throne for two generations of Rhode Island Democratic political leaders. Jay was born in St. Louis, Missouri on January 16, 1940, the son of attorneys Harold and Minnie Goodman. Jay earned his bachelors degree in 1961

The late Thomas P. McCoy,1883-1945, formerly of Pawtucket was a lifelong Mayor of that city whose colorful political career dominated the area’s political scene for many years. Undisputed leader of the city’s Democratic Party, he compiled a distinguished ten-year record in the Rhode Island House of Representatives during the 1920s. Dubbed “the Prince of Pawtucket,”

A champion for human, civil and labor rights, Julius C. Michaelson spent a decades-long long career of public service, fighting for social justice. He was best known for the “Michaelson Act,” requiring school districts to bargain in good faith with teachers, ending the long-standing practice of ignoring teachers to put force them to givie up

McGuinness, Edwin Daniel, 1856-1901 Mayor Edwin D. McGuinness (1856-1901), a native of Providence, was the son of Irish immigrants who settled in Rhode Island after fleeing the Potato Famine in the 1840s. His father, Bernard McGuinness, was a successful real estate agent who encouraged his son’s educational pursuits. Edwin attended local public schools and graduated

Ira Magaziner grew up in New York and first came to Rhode Island as a student at Brown University. He graduated in 1969 as valedictorian of his class. As an undergraduate student activist, Ira was instrumental in changing the curriculum at the Ivy League school. He subsequently attended Oxford University in England as a Rhodes

U.S. Senator Jack Reed was born in 1949 and raised in Cranston. His father, Joe, was a Cranston school janitor who worked his way up through the ranks to become the custodial supervisor of the city’s school system. Jack credits his parents, Joe and Mary Reed, for his values and for the work-ethic that helped

Fitzgerald, John J., 1871-1926 John J. Fitzgerald was born in Pawtucket where he attended local public schools. A brilliant student, he was one of the state’s first Irish-Catholics to graduate from Brown University (Class of 1893). Fitzgerald earned a law degree at Georgetown University, established a hometown law practice, and in 1899 ran successfully for

Higgins, Edward J., 1894-1979 Edward “Rip” Higgins was born November 16, 1894 to Irish immigrant parents in Warren. During WW I, Rip served in the U.S. Navy as a pharmacist’s mate. Immediately after the war, he worked at Smith’s Drug Store, a Warren Democratic bastion, even into the 1980s, and there got his entree into

Phil Noel worked his way through Georgetown University Law School, first running an elevator, then in the U.S. Senate mailroom and eventually taking charge of the Senate’s committee notice system, all under the patronage of Senator John O. Pastore. When he graduated, the young lawyer asked the senator how he could repay him. “Get involved

Higgins, James H. (James Henry), 1876-1927 James H. Higgins was the first Irish-Catholic governor of Rhode Island, serving from 1907 to 1909. Although orphaned at a young age, Higgins pursued a high school degree in Pawtucket and was accepted at Brown University in 1894 at a time when few Irish-Catholics matriculated at the Ivy League

Gov. William S. Flynn, (1885-1966) was a member of the Rhode Island State Senate from 1912 – 1914 and again from 1917 – 1922. He was Governor of Rhode Island from 1923 to 1925, and brother of Chief Justice Edmund Flynn and Coach John A. “Jack” Flynn. Flynn, a native of South Providence and the

Mayor Joseph Henry Gainer, 1878-1945, attorney, city councilman, alderman, and Providence mayor from 1913 to 1927, presided over development of city’s outer harbor, creation of its water supply, and other projects. Joseph Henry Gainer was born in Providence, January 18, 1878, the son of John and Margaret (Keogh) Gainer, immigrants from Ireland. One of the